Aclicheusername

I drive an automatic 2.4 cylinder 2005 Honda Accord. I love it, and her name is Betty. The problem is my car stopped shifting into 3rd gear. I don’t know a lot about cars, but I was curious if this is a common problem. I got it looked at, and was informed it may be a bad coil or new spark plugs. Which option should I have done first or how can I tell what problem it is? Your help is greatly appreciated.

Accordian47

Well you know enough to know if its not shifting into 3rd gear, thats a great start. Automatic transmissions use alot of electronics nowadays to control and monitor their operation. It could be a few different things. Do you have a flashing "D" or "D4" indicator light on your dash? The lights that show what gear your transmission is in? Or any kind of warning/indicator light? The reason I ask is because the most common reason for a failure to shift is an electronic component and if it is the case, there will typically be a light on your dash that is illuminated by the transmission's control computer. It is designed to know what things are normal and what things are not, electronically. There are codes associated with these failures and they can be read from the computer to help diagnose the problem. We need to know if you have codes stored. I can say that it is not likely that your problem has to do with your ignition system, such as your coil or spark plugs, that would be engine related and would cause poor operation regardless of the transmission's operation. Tell us if you have any lights on the dash, from there we can determine if you need to get the car looked at again for a computer scan specifially. Next it would be on to the shift solenoids, most likely Betty's culprit.

Aclicheusername